


Not You, Can't Be You

by Duck_Life



Series: X-Men Shorties [1]
Category: X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Brothers, Ficlet, Gen, Resurrection, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 08:32:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17505179
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Duck_Life/pseuds/Duck_Life
Summary: Newly resurrected Scott breaks Alex out of O*N*E containment.





	Not You, Can't Be You

When Alex’s cell door is torn from its frame with a loud  _ shraaakt _ and a burst of red light, he’s not sure what to think. When his brother shows up in the doorway, sporting the scraggly start of a beard and an over-large hoodie, he feels like someone’s playing a really messed-up joke on him. 

“You okay?” Scott says. He doesn’t wait for an answer, though, just kneels down beside him to get a closer look at the inhibitor collar around Alex’s neck. “Hold still, okay?” Like it would matter if he got nicked by the edge of Scott’s optic blast. Obvious imposter. Whoever this is, he isn’t even trying. Not-Scott destroys the latch on the inhibitor collar and tosses the broken contraption aside.

“Thanks,” Alex mumbles, and fires a wave of energy directly at him. It might as well be a stiff gust of wind for all the effect it has. “Who the hell are you? Skrull?  _ Mystique _ ?” 

“It’s me, dumbass,” Scott says, too calm, how the hell can he be calm right now? “Alex, it’s—” Alex doesn’t wait to hear him out, just hits him with another plasma blast. Again, it does nothing. “You  _ know _ it’s me. Attack me all you want, brother mine, but it’s not going to do anything.”

“You sure?” Alex throws himself at Scott, tackling him and knocking him to the floor. He’s got the guy pinned now, and he rears back, ready to punch his lights out for daring to impersonate Scotty. The asshole’s not even moving, he doesn’t even try to fight back, he… he’s… 

He’s laughing.

Quietly, like he’s trying to stifle it, but he is honest-to-goodness laughing out loud. 

“Jesus Christ,” Alex says, rolling off of him. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“I  _ did _ ,” Scott says, getting up and brushing himself off. “I  _ did _ say something, I—” But he’s cut off when Alex rushes forward to hug him, clapping him on the back and holding on tight. “Are you okay?” Scott asks, muffled. “You didn’t answer me before. Are you okay?”

Alex pulls back to get a good look at Scott, although “good” maybe isn’t the right word. He looks like shit, sleep-deprived and windblown. Even with the glasses it’s not hard to see the bags under his eyes. But he’s here. And he’s Scott. “I am now.” 


End file.
